Meat tying and supporting hanger



June 17, 1941. WOHLMUTH MEAT TYING AND SUPPORTING HANGER Filed June 14, 1959 Iii/9.1

R O T N E V m Patented June 17, 1941 UNITEDTSTATES" PATENT OFFICE. Y V mna piymdinnst gfilnrmoHANGER I I I s w m iiidth. vQW ll e", s r f H one-half to Henry Wagerer, Pittsburgh, Pa.

' Application-June 14, 1939, Serial No. 279,161 V se t ng .(cl. 17-442) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in apparatus for suspending and shaping meats for curing and smoking, or the like, and it is a primary object of the invention to provide a hook element for use with the conventional form of netted fabric in which meats are encased for draining brine, smoking and other handling purposes, which shall be especially adapted to securely hold the meat product and shape it by its own weight while it is being cured.

In the treatment of hams, large bolognas or the like, the product is encased in a netted fabric which is available in the trade as a continuous tube or stocking that is cut to length tosuit the article to be encased therein, one of the cutofi ends being knotted or tied, and the other end being gathered together and either tied or knotted before suspending from a hook in the draining or smoking room.

The tying is somewhat tedious and takes considerable time as does the knotting of the loose stocking end, and in either case the fabric cannot be tautly drawn over the end of the ham.

In accordance with the present invention these difiiculties are overcome and the operation is greatly expedited by the use of a flat hook which is provided with notches suitably spaced to engage the open end of the loose stocking and to securely lock the same by a simple movement of the hand, the spacing of the notches being such that when the hook is placed in its normal suspension position it will exert a leverage on the fabric to shape the end of the product in the desired manner.

The invention will become more apparent from a consideration of the accompanying drawing constituting a part hereof in which like reference characters designate like parts and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a suspension and shaping hook embodying the principles of this invention;

Fig. 2 a front elevational view thereof;

Figs. 3 to 6 inclusive views in perspective illustrating the application of the hook to the stocking or fabric in the tying operation; and

Fig. 7 a similar view illustrating the suspension of the hook and product after assembly with an application of a tension force to the end of the product to produce the desired shaping effect.

The hook comprises a fiat sheet metal stamping designated by the numeral I having a C- shaped neck 2 and a relatively wide bottom portion3, thebottom end being preferably provided with a plurality of notches 4 and 5, the notch 4 being of greater dimensions than the notch 5,

' both notches being of a wedge shape and the notch 4 being relieved at the center at 6 to provide adequate space for gathering the stocking material therein in a manner to be hereinafter described.

The bottom of the fiat portion 3 is provided with a groove 7, the use of which will become apparent from a description of the application of the hook in connection with Figs. 3 and 7 inclusive of the drawing, which is as follows.

As shown in Fig. 3 the netted material or stocking is knotted at 8, the ham or other meat product 9 is placed therein, and the upper end of the stocking is gathered to draw the material around the upper shoulder I'D of the ham. The hook is then laid flat-wise over the end of the ham: with the free end I l of the stocking inserted in slot 4, as shown. The end II is then drawn around the end of the fiat portion 3 as shown in Fig. 4 with the strand placed in groove 1. Fig. 5 shows the end drawn under the flat portion 3 back through the slot 4 and, as shown in Fig. 6, the free end H is then inserted in the slot 5 and drawn into the narrow slot portion 5a. The hook is .then placed on a support I2 with the weight of the ham tending to straighten the hook.

Because of the proximity of the hook to the end of the ham, as shown in Fig. 6, the placement of the hook to the vertical position causes the end portion of the hook to engage the upper portion oi the ham, which'draws the fabric very tightly around the top of the ham, giving it, at what will be the butt end of the finished ham, a nicely rounded shape, as shown in Fig. 7. The Weight of they ham hanging on the hook in the draining room or smoke house applies a continuous tension on the fabric around the body of the ham, tending to compact and shape it while it is being drained or smoked.

It is apparent from following through the steps illustrated in Figs. 3 to 6 inclusive of the drawing that the' stocking material is interlocked with the slots and ends of the hook in a simple and expedient manner without leaving any space between the end of the material and the top end of the ham, and without requiring any tying of the stocking matenal or'knotting of the free end of the material, which is a tedious and unreliable operation and often resulted in dropping of the meat products from the hooks in the draining and smoking chambers.

It is also apparent that the use of a notched fiat hook as herein disclosed greatly expedites the application of the stocking material in preparation of curing and smoking the meat products.

Although one embodiment of the invention has been herein illustrated and described, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the details of construction without departing from the principles herein set forth.

I claim:

1. A suspension member for shaping and supporting meat products during the curing and 7 smoking thereof, consisting of a support having a hook arm other end, a plurality of oppositely disposed parallel notches intermediate the ends of the support for engaging the free end of the meat casing, the notch adjacent the recessed end of the support terminating in alignment with said recess for looping the meat casing from said notch at one end and a recess at the around said recess and into the upper notch whereby the meat casing is placed and maintained under tension by the weight of the meat hanging from said support.

2. A suspension member for shaping and supporting meat products during the curing and smoking thereof comprising a support hooked at one end having oppositely disposed notches extending to substantially the center of the support for receiving the free end of the meat casing, said notches being spaced from the end opposite the hook end of the support to permit looping the meat casing from the bottom notch around the lower end of the support and into the upper notch to constitute the support a lever with its lower end abutting the meat product which acts as a fulcrum to maintain a shap ing tension on the casing in response to the weight of the meat product suspended from said support. 7 JOSEF WOHLMU'I'I-I. 

